I had been studying the forecast all week and was happy to see a 3 day weather windows that would allow me to tackle some rarely visited peaks on the north side of Mt Rainier National Park. The intended tour would only take 2 days so I decided to add an additional day up in the sunrise area tackling Fremont and the Burroughs along the way. It was calling for partly to mostly sunny skies the whole time so I packed my gear for good weather. I arrived at the White River campground at 6:30 am and hiked the wonderland trail for 2.5 miles up to the Sunrise area which is scheduled to open next Friday in alittle bit under a hour. Once arriving on the mellow alpine slopes around sunrise I was able to find continuous snow and switched over to skinning all the way out to frozen lake which is a low col that separates Fremont and the Burroughs.
Mount Rainier reflection on Frozen Lake
Once at frozen lake I dropped off all my overnight gear and climbed up to the ridge that separates the 3 bowls within the Fremont area. I gained the ridge to Fremont proper and did a long traverse checking out the possible lines along the way. From Fremont you have a perfect view to the west and while I was up in the clouds I could see that there was blue sky in the horizon. The clouds were dark but they weren’t dropping any precipitation so I felt confident that I was going to stay dry for the remainder of the day. After making it out to the lookout tower I dropped into the Massive Northeast facing bowl from summit proper to the flats around 1,000 feet lower and skinned back up to the summit. Along the way it had turned back to blue skies with a cloud deck a little bit above the peaks so feeling confident with the weather I dropped into the only continuous line within the massive SE facing bowl before gaining the ridge for my decent to Frozen Lake.
My line down the SE face of Fremont ( I love dirty snow)
At this point I was going faster then I had expected and the day was still early so I took a lunch break then ran up the 1st burrough to tackle its eastern face. The clouds were coming in and out but there were long stretches of Blue sky so I packed up all my gear and started heading across the high alpine tundra towards the second Burrough. In the distance I saw a wave of clouds over take the peaks to the west and were slowly heading in my direction. I had originally planned on dropping the North face of the 2nd burrough into Berkley Park then climb up a low saddle to access the 3rd but decided against it since it was about to be over taken by clouds. After taking a quick run down the low angled East face of the 2nd burrough the clouds had seemed to dissipate and I took an hour long nap on top of the 2nd burrough. It was starting to get late in the day and I had to make a discussion of were I would camp overnight. In the past I had camped on top of the 3rd burrough which delivered excellent views of Rainier proper and the route I would have to take the next day so I decided to head that way . While climbing up to the 3rd burrough some dark clouds had passed by but once again there was no precipitation and above me was blue sky so I felt comfortable sleeping on the exposed high point.
Once at the highpoint I unpacked my gear and set up camp by now clouds had obstructed my view but I had faith that they would soon clear up for an unobstructed view of Rainier. The view never opened up so I decided to get some sleep to prepare for the long day ahead. I had planned on sleeping at a patrol cabin on the second night and the forecast said clear skies so I left behind a tent and brought a sleeping pad, a 30 degree down sleeping bag and a few layers of clothes to regulate my heat which seemed more then sufficient. I fell asleep fast but was woken up 3 hours later to a torrential down pour and all of my gear was completely soaked. It was dark by this point and visibility was less then 10 feet so I had to make a decision of what to do and I had to do it fast.
I came up with 4 options 1. Drop down the South face of the 3rd burrough to a lower elevation and attempt to find the trail down to Glacier basin 2. Head North for 5 miles into Berkley Park and try to find the shelter 3. Head west for 5 miles towards the sunrise are 4. Stick it out and take off at first glance of sunlight
At first I decided to go with option 1. I threw all my gear in my pack as fast as possible, put my soaking wet gear on and started snowboarding carefully down the southern slope. I was riding by headlamp and was 90 percent sure I was in the right area but I knew that 10 percent chance would be a fatal drop so I changed my mind about heading down and boot packed back up the slopes towards the low saddle between the 2nd and 3rd burrough. With visibility being so bad I knew there was a very high chance I would get lost in the down pour if I tried heading towards Berkley park or sunrise and at the low saddle I could see the stars above me so I made the decision to hunker down for a long cold night and get out at first light. So I pulled out my sleeping pad and soaked sleeping bag, put on every layer I had and decided I would lay down with my Snowboard Jacket and Pants on.
Not 5 minutes into lying down it was raining again and everything was drenched but my core was somewhat dry (thanks to the coat and pants). I tucked myself under the sleeping bag and tried to get sleep for hours not quite awake and not quite asleep. Every few minutes I would look at my watch then look at my surroundings to see if the weather had a chance of clearing up to no avail. It wasn’t long before I lost all feeling in my hands and feet but I knew this was my bodies way of regulating heat and keeping my core/vitals working and I felt it was too warm to get frost bite. Not only was it pouring rain but around 1 a.m. the wind picked up and ripped through my sleeping bag leaving me uncontrollably shaking for hours. By 4 a.m. I was exhausted and I had enough of the onslaught so I packed up the sponges of what I would normally call gear and started moving east towards sunrise.
Now I have done a lot of climbing lately and the tour wasn’t what I would consider that exhausting but I was completely and totally lethargic. Every muscle in my body ached and I barely had enough energy to put one foot in front of the other for the next five brutal miles. There were points along the way were I could have snowboarded but I didn’t have the energy to deal with it so I just kept moving through the rain soaked soil which turned to deep mud overnight. I stumbled the whole time hoping there would be a break in the rain and made the decision that if the sun came out I would collapse and rest for a few hours but that time never came. After two hours I made it to the sunrise visitor center and found a sheltered area that was less exposed to the elements. I collapsed on the bench, switched over to the last of my dry clothes then rested for hours waiting for the weather to clear so I could get back down to the White River campgrounds. After 6 hours of resting the rain started letting up but I knew it wasn’t going to stop so I made the decision to load up on calories and make the final 2.5 mile hike down to my car arriving around 2p.m.
Looking at sunrise on my way back to the car
In conclusion I feel that while it was brutal staying in the area for the night it was the right decision as I’m sure it would have taken no time before I became lost and was stumbling through the woods. I regret not heading to one of the shelter as a tent wouldn’t have helped too much with the down pour and as for the choice of sleeping on the Burrough I left myself exposed with no areas around that I could have hunkered down in to provide any shelter. I made mistakes and I admit that but once I was in the situation I was very cautious of all my decisions knowing all to well that a wrong choice could have been disastrous.
